Change of Plans
by CemeteryIsTheAnswer
Summary: Clary's been having dreams about this guy that just won't leave her head. What happens when the exact same guy from her dreams appears at school? Simon's falling for the new girl, Isabelle. Is she also losing her best friend? Read to find out. Bad at summaries. Rated M for language.
1. Chapter 1

Hello! CemeteryIsTheAnswer here! So, this is my third story, as some of you may or may no know. This story isn't really an AU. Keep in mind that the main shadowhunters are still shadowhunters. Maybe look at this as the beginning of Mortal Instruments except written completely differently and won't follow the same story line.

Anyways, moving on. For some reason, when I was writing this story I started doubting myself and was thinking that I probably shouldn't post this, but in the end I decided to give it a shot, so let me know what you think and if I should continue.

And one last thing, I'd like to give a little shout out to my friend MajesticStallion! She's the one that pushed me into posting this on fanfiction, saying that it was actually good. And for those Malec fans (Magnus and Alec), you should definitely go and check out her on going story '_Final Chance'. _It's absolutely amazing and I promise you won't regret if you go and check it out!

Alright, now on with the story~

Disclaimer: Do not own any of the Mortal Instruments! It'd be great if I did, but I don't...

* * *

_It was really dark here. I had been trying to find my way out for what seemed to be hours. Trying to find an inkling of light or maybe even a door that could get me out of here. Anything would do at this point._

"Clary_," I heard someone say. _

_I whipped my whole body around to find the source of the voice. What, or more like _who, _ I saw was absolutely breath taking. He was a tall man with golden hair and piercing golden eyes to match. He was wearing a tight white shirt that did good things for his muscles. But the most amazing of it all were the wings that were spread out behind him; just like an angel's. _

_He reached his tanned hand out towards me with an angelic smile, "Clary." _

_My legs melted under me as he said my name. _

"_Clary." His features started changing; his eyebrows scrunching and clenching his fists, seeming a little angry. _

"_Clary! If I have to say your name one more time I will choke you with your own pillow!"_

LINE

I got up with a start, breathing heavily. Only to see my brother, Sebastian, standing at the foot of my bed with his arms crossed and glaring at me.

I had always despised my brother with a passion. He was always in my business, going to any extent just to find a way to piss me off to no end.

"Thank you, Sebastian," I said through gritted teeth. I pointed to my open door roughly, "Now get out."

With a smug grin on his face, he left me alone so I could go on with my usual routine. Instead I simply sighed and let myself fall back on my bed.

I probably should be getting ready for school, that would be the logical thing to do, but the only thing that was on my mind at that very moment was that guy, that _angel_, that had appeared in my dreams. I don't usually dream about boys. I never really cared for someone so deeply to consider them a 'love interest'.

My finger started itching. A familiar itch that only came along when I wanted, or had some sort of inspiration, to draw. Knowing I had to get up and get ready, I decided to put the urge aside and draw later.

I got up and went on with my morning routine; getting dressed, brushing my hair, brushing my teeth and so on. When I was ready, I made my way downstairs in our kitchen, where my mom was eating at the table with my brother, an extra plate sitting on the table for me.

I sat down and started eating my buttered toasts.

"So after school I'm going to go and see a movie with Angelina," Sebastian declared, taking a bite out of his own toast.

"What happened to Sarah?" My mom asked, since last update we heard from his relationship status, his girlfriend was Sarah.

He shrugged, "Didn't work out between us."

"Ooh, how long was that, a whole _two _days of you two dating? That almost beats your three day record," I said over enthusiastically, mocking him. If anyone knew Sebastian, even remotely, they all knew that he was probably the biggest player on earth.

He scoffed, "Whatever, at least I can get into a relationship," he told me, taking another bite. Before anything else could be said, the door bell rang.

"That's probably Simon," I said and got up, finishing my breakfast, putting my plate in the sink, and then heading for the door.

I opened it up to see my best friend standing there, with his usual somewhat spiky black hair and his glasses that keep sliding down his nose.

"Hey Clary, you ready to go?" he asked, yawning. He was never really a morning person.

I nodded and grabbed my bag. "Bye mom!" I said before closing the door and heading to school with Simon.

"So, did you hear?" he started, a tinge of excitement in his voice.

"What?"

"We have new students coming to school. Three of them."

I looked at him from the corner of my eyes, "And?"

A goofish smile spread across his lips. "Apparently the girl is pretty hot."

I punched him in the arm playfully, a small smile on my face, "Idiot." I chuckled.

"Hey, I'm sure the guys aren't bad either! Then again, who could compare to this?" he said, pointing to himself. I hit him again.

"Another comment and next one is going to your face."

Simon made a hissing sound, "Someone's a little edgy today."

I shook my head, trying to hold in a laugh. He always knew how to brighten up my day, no matter how bad Sebastian had made it earlier.

We finally got to school and walked to class, taking our respective seats. I took out my sketch book and my number two pencil and started drawing; trying to remember exactly how he looked: his hair, his eyes, his skin color, his wings... I had been drawing for almost half of the class until the teacher brought everyone's attention to the front.

"Okay! Everyone listen up!"

I dropped my pencil and looked up to listen to what she had to say.

"We have two new students today," she declared.

Just then two people, a boy and a girl, walked in. The girl, or more like the _woman _I'd say, had long black hair that fell down to the small of her back. She wore a black skirt that stopped mid-thigh and a tank top with intricate patterns on it.

I stole a glance towards Simon and saw that hi mouth was slightly open in, what I believed was, awe. And as I looked around I saw the same reaction from all the guys.

"My name's Isabelle Lightwood," she introduced herself, flashing everyone a dazzling smile.

"Jace," the guy said.

I heard a girl beside me say, "Oh. My. God." I looked at Jace to see what she was fussing about. He had golden hair short hair and tanned skin. He was wearing dark jeans that hugged his hips and a loose t-shirt. Although it didn't hide any of the muscles in his arms.

"Thank you. Now go and have a seat that hasn't been taken yet," our teacher said, and with that I went back to my drawing.

"Is this seat taken?" I heard a male voice ask. I looked up to see Jace and it took me a moment to process what he had just asked.

What was actually going through my mind was that he seemed familiar somehow. _Extremely _familiar.

I slowly shook my head, signaling that could sit in the seat beside me, and then looked back down to my drawing. I sucked in my breath in surprise, not believing what I was seeing. I looked back at the new student, then back down at my sketch pad. They looked _exactly _the same!

"Something wrong?" he asked with a raised eyebrow and what I could detect as a smirk on his face.

I stared, knowing very well that I probably looked pretty stupid just staring at him right now. I cleared my throat,

"Um, yeah, it's just that you, uh... seem familiar," I stuttered, lowering my voice so that the teacher wouldn't hear us. His smirk didn't leave his face for a second.

"Oh really? Am I, by any chance, the man of your dreams?"

_You don't even know the half of it... _ I glared at him, trying to hide the little blush creeping up my face.

"For a new guy, you're pretty confident," I told him, raising an eyebrow. He looked around with a dumb look on his face, passing his eyes over all the girls watching him at that very moment. He looked back at me,

"I don't know, when all the girls in the class are gawking at you, it seems like a pretty good reason to be confident, don't you think?" he answered smugly.

"You're also pretty arrogant," I added under my breath. Either he didn't hear me or decided to ignore me, but he didn't respond. And nothing more was said for the rest of the class. I closed my sketch pad and tried to catch up with what I had ignored since class had started.

When the bell rang I started to put my thing in my bag.

"Clary."

Until someone distracted me. I looked back to see Simon coming towards my desk.

"Isabelle at beside me," he said, giving me a wink. I hadn't even noticed Isabelle after I had started talking to Jace. I was about to make a joke that he was falling too hard and too fast, but I was interrupted by the very person we were speaking of,

"Simon, what do you have next?" she asked, putting a hand on his shoulder.

I saw his eyes quickly glance down at her hand before looking her in the eyes, "I have math," he answered, smiling.

I scoffed; never would it of crossed my mind that _Simon_, my childhood best friend, would look like one of those lovestruck idiots that we always made fun of.

"Me too! Did you wanna walk with me to class?" she asked, obviously flirting.

Already disgusted by the scene happening before me, I grabbed my bad and left.

* * *

The rest of the day went by pretty fast. I was now heading to my last class: Gym.

I walked out of the girls changing room, first one out as always. First thing I realized when I walked out was that there was someone else already there. Second thing I realized was that it was a guy. And the last thing was that it was Jace.

He looked up and gave his trade mark smirk. "Aren't I lucky? I have you in two of my classes," he said, and I swear I heard a hint of sarcasm in his voice.

I gave him a tight smile, "Yeah, lucky you," I answered bitter sweetly. He took a few steps closer to me.

"Don't be like that, I know deep down you love me."

My stare turned suspiciously towards him, "Once again, why so cocky?"

He kept talking as if I hadn't said anything, "I know you think about me. I'm always on your mind, even in your dreams," he said knowingly.

My eyes widened in horror which quickly turned into frustration. I ran across the space that was left between us and swung my arm to land a hit on that pretty little face of his. Before any impact could be made, his hand grabbed my fist firmly and he stared at me, astonished.

"That was actually going for my face," he said, flabbergasted.

"That's what you get for making assumptions," I said, pulling my hand back, but he wouldn't let go. I glared at him.

"It would be nice if you'd let go of me," I suggested, raising an eyebrow.

He chuckled, "I'm sorry, my arrogance just won't allow me," he said, smiling tauntingly. So he _had _heard.

I took a deep breath, closing my eyes for a moment. Next thing I knew I felt him pull on my hand and I stumbled forward. When I opened my eyes he was too close for comfort.

"If you didn't want me to know, maybe you shouldn't leave your sketch pad laying around class."

I pulled back abruptly, not wanting to believe what he had just said. I hadn't even realized I had forgotten it in class! It must have been when Simon had started talking to me and I had left it on my desk without putting it in my back. And the worst person to find is the one who picked it up and, of course, he looked through my sketch pad.

I was about to tell him that he had no right to do such things, but everyone else had started piling in to the gym. Our teacher came out and declared that we were playing with the twelfth graders today. And I was very well away of who was in that class: my brother.

"Hey, Jace!" someone called out his name.

I glanced in Jace's direction to see two guys making their way towards him. One had long-ish dark hair and was very well built. The other one had short blonde hair, almost white. His hands were shoved were shoved in his pockets and I recognized him instantly.

"Hey Sebastian, fancy meeting you here," I said sarcastically, walking towards them.

"You know Sebastian?" Jace asked skeptically.

I snorted, "Unfortunately."

Changing the subject, I turned myself to look at the new face in the class.

"And you are...?"

He held out his hand, "Alec," I shook his hand, "Sebastian's friend and Jace's brother."

"Oh really?" I asked, looking between Alec and Jace, not seeing any resemblance whatsoever.

"Adopted... brother," Jace clarified, obviously seeing my confusion. I nodded, not wanting to say anything stupid or offensive.

"So how do you two know each other?" Alec asked, pointing back and forth between my brother and I. We both stayed silent, not really answering. Not _wanting _to answer. Before we could be questioned any further, our gym teacher called us out,

"Alright everyone! Come over here and we'll start playing some dodge ball!" he screamed out, making sure everyone heard him.

* * *

After class was done, I decided to relax a little and sat down one the bench in front of the school while I waited for Simon. Different thoughts were running through my head; mostly about the events of the day. The first event was Simon falling for that girl, Isabelle. Not that I disliked her or anything. She looked perfectly fine, but I was afraid that I might be losing my best friend... Then it went on with Jace's arrogance in class and how he thought he had every girl wrapped around his finger. Which, now that I think about it, might be true. And how he had the guts to take my sketch pad! Where in _hell _did he find the nerves to, not only steal my sketch pad, but _look _through it too!? That little _bastard_...

I was getting so carried in my thoughts that I hadn't realized Simon was sitting beside andh ad been talking to me.

"Clary, I'm a cross dresser and have been sleeping with your mother these past two weeks," is what I last heard him saw when I snapped back to reality.

My mouth fell open in horror, "What did you just say?"

"And she's alive!" he said over dramatically. "What were you thinking about, anyway? You were glaring so hard that I thought you would burn a hole through the ground."

I laughed, glad that, once again, I could count on Simon to brighten up my mood.

"I was just thinking about the new kid," I said, and then something crossed my mind. I got up and started looking around somewhat frantically. "Speaking of which where is that damned guy?"

"Miss me already, Clarisa?" I heard his aggravating voice behind me. I disregarded the fact that he called me by my real name, and disregarded the fact that he _knew _my real name, as both me and Simon turned around. We saw Jace, Alec, Isabelle all together with... Sebastian!?

"What are you doing here?" I asked tiredly, already knowing that this was not a good sign.

"I thought you wanted to see me?: Jace asked sarcastically, putting a hand on his chest and looking hurt.

I shook my head, "I wasn't talking to you," I said more to myself than actually _at _him. "But that's besides the point. What did you do with my sketch pad?"

He took it out from his backpack and handed it over to me, a small smile creeping on his face. I looked at him suspiciously as I grabbed it.

"Anyways, we're all heading to my house, so did you want to come along?" he asked, almost sounding hopeful. Although that could just be my imagination.

"Who's we?"

"Me, Alec, Isabelle, Sebastian and Simon," he answered, "and possibly you if you're joining us."

"Simon?" I said in bewilderment. I looked back at him with questioning eyes. He slowly nodded in response. I let out a sigh suddenly feeling very tired.

"Sure, why not. I'd love to go and hang out with my brother's friend and my best friend's love interest... What can go wrong?" I said, glancing at my brother' half expecting him to reject the suggestion. Though nothing came out of him. What did come out was Simon's booming voice,

"Clary!" he chastised me. That's when I realized what I had just said in the heat of the moment.

Isabelle raised an eyebrow, "Were you talking about me?"

I subtly rolled my eyes, "No, I was talking about Alec actually."

Alec shook his head, "Wait, Sebastian's your brother?" he said, changing from one subject another. Then I realized what _else _I slipped out in the heat of the moment.

_Two for two today, I am on fire... _I said to myself, wanting nothing more but to crawl up in a little whole so I couldn't let anything else slip out.

I nodded, answering Alec's question, "Yes, unfortunately," I said, repeating myself from gym class.

"Love you too, sis," he spat out, rolling his eyes.

"Oh, we thought he was your ex-boyfriend or something," Isabelle added, seeming to have forgotten what I had said about Simon earlier.

Sebastian and I looked at each other, are lips twitching for a split second before we both burst out laughing at the same time, not being able to stop.

Everyone was staring oddly at us. Even Simon seemed hesitant on what to think. When our little laughing fit finally finished, we started making our way to the Lightwood's house.

* * *

Once arrived we settled down in, who I believed was, Isabelle's room; what with the frilly bed sheets and a shelf full of _Tampax_. I could see Sebastian's and Simon's eyes trying to look anywhere but there.

I never really understood boys' embarrassment when it came to talking about our periods and what not.

"So, where are you guys from?" I started, trying to move on from this awkward silence.

"Manhattan," Alec answered rather quickly, as if he had been waiting for that very question to pop up. I caught Jace and Isabelle a quick glance. Before anything else could be said or asked, a little boy nurst into the room, yelling,

"What did you do with my book!?" The little black haired boy, resembling Alec in a way, said. He puffed his cheeks and crossed his arms, looking straight at his sister, who had a big smile on her face.

"What do you mean, Max?" she asked innocently. I could see Jace and Alec hiding a smile, like there was an inside joke going on between them.

Max pointed straight at Isabelle, "Don't lie to me! You always take my book!"

I let out a little chuckle, not being able to help myself, enjoying this little scenery before me. Everyone just joking around, but not being nasty to one another; something I always wished would happen between my brother and I.

Max's gaze turned towards me, "Oh, who are you?" he asked, taken aback, apparently not having seen us before now.

"Now you realize they're here?" Isabelle asked, rolling her eyes in disbelief. She got up and went into one of her drawers and took out a _Naruto _manga book.

"Hey! You're reading that manga!" Simon blurted out, his eyes lighting up.

Max's own eyes did as well and he nodded, "I started, yeah."

Isabelle gave him the book and pointed at her door, "There, now go read and don't bother us," she said, cutting his and Simon's conversation's short.

He seemed to hesitate for a second but left almost immediately after.

"Sorry about that. It's a little prank we like to pull on our little brother," she explained, smiling sheepishly.

"That's fine," I said, "he was really adorable."

"_And _he can actually take a joke, unlike _my _sister," Sebastian added, giving me a mocking smirk. I clenched my teeth and looked away, holding myself from exploding.

"Oh? Do you to fight often?" Jace asked, seeming interested.

"Well, I joke around. But she whines, scratches, screams... I could go on but I'll just stop there," he explained, that cocky smile still on his face. I was about ready to wipe it off with my fists.

I saw Jace looking at me, a playful smirk on his lips. I bit my lip hard and looked back at my bastard of a brother.

"Didn't you have a date tonight?" I asked tightly.

He looked at me provokingly and I knew what was coming next would be what he would like to call his _big _finish, "No, I thought it would be much more amusing to show everyone what a big baby you are."

That's when I felt a sting at the back of my eyes as I quickly got up and stormed out of the room, muttering "Goodbye." I heard a few voices calling my name, none of which I could recognize except for Simon's. I also heard his footsteps following close behind. I didn't stop until I was in front o the entrance and ready to leave.

Simon grabbed my wrist and spun me around so I was facing him.

"Why are you leaving?" he asked worriedly.

I sighed, "You know exactly why."

"Yes, but it never bothered you before. You used to always ignore him," he coaxed me, tugging slightly on my wrist.

I pulled out of his grip and shook my head, "I know, but it's just the fact that everyone around me found it funny and didn't say anything to stop him. I mean, he was saying some pretty nasty stuff," I explained, trying to retain myself from screaming.

To everyone else it had probably seemed like a perfectly normal sibling quarrel. But no matter how close you are, saying things like that wa just going too far and anyone with ears would be able to recognize that.

"Why didn't you just insult him back?" Simon asked, probably hoping I would calm down and decide to go back upstairs with him.

"Because I won't be stooping down to his level."

With that said I started leaving, slamming the door behind me. I heard Simon open the door again.

"It's dark outside Clary! We'll leave in a few hours, just... be patient and ignore him."

With a sudden realization I saw that, indeed, it _was _dark outside. I hadn't even thought that we had stayed here that long. But my anger was too great right now and I didn't care.

"I'll be fine!" I said, waving my right hand in the air and not looking back.

"At least text me when you get home!" he said finally and closed the door.

Now usually he would tell me to wait and he would come along with me. But now his feelings for Isabelle were far too great. Not that it really bothered me. Now I could just walk home in peace and take in some fresh air.

After walking for maybe five or ten minutes I realized that I had no idea where I was going. I hadn't really been paying attention when we had walked from school to the Lightwood's house.

I now had three options: One, I could call my mom and let her know where I am so she could come and pick me up. But then I would have to sit through a conversation about how I was being irresponsible and that I should of just stayed at the Lightwood's house and call her from there 'cause there are rapists and muggers and crazy killers out at night. _Scratch that option_.

Second one would be calling Simon, but then I would probably be disturbing him and I could just imagine what Sebastian would say after that. He would never let me live it down... _So no to that, too_.

Last one would be walking around until I found some place I recognized and went from there. Yep, that seemed like the best option at this point.

So I walked around for another fifteen minutes until I saw an old bar that me and Simon always pass while walking to school. A little burst of excitement went through me as I started accelerating my steps. I was abruptly stopped by four guys walking out of the bar, obviously drunk as one of them fell down.

"Heyyy!" he slurred.

His friend helped him up and I could smell the alcohol from all the way over here.

"Hey you, wittle gurrll..." another guy said, hiccuping

"Why don't you... be a nice wittle laaaady and escort us... back hooome," he said, a big grin on his face. "And spend the night."

I shook my head disgustedly and tried to make my way around them. One of them grabbed my arm in a painstakingly hard grip.

"Where are you going? We asked for a simple request!" he said, increasingly getting mad.

I pulled back, saying "Let me go!" As he did I felt a small wash of relief come over me. Though it didn't last for long as I felt a sharp pain at the side of my head from the guy standing in front of me who decided to whack a punch at the side of my head.

My vision started getting blurry as my head ached.

"Listen you little bitch! You're gonna come whether you like it or not!" another man said as he pulled me towards him, tugging at my shirt.

"No.." I muttered. They all started laughing.

"What was that?"

My head was spinning and I could barely see what was in front of me. I tried to scream it at the top of my lungs, but all I heard me screaming inside of my head, _NO!_

* * *

Alriiight! So this is the first chapter! Let me know if it was good, bad, and if I should continue it or not. Any feedback would be great, I am open to constructive criticism and I hope you all enjoyed the first chapter!

Next one should be coming soon!


	2. Revelation

**Sorry for the slight delay everyone! I am very happy with my reviews for the first chapter and I hope I can keep up the good beginning. Thank you to everyone who reviewed, favorited and followed my story. Now on to the next chapter! Lemme know what you think! **

**Discalimer: Do not own Mortal Instruments. It belongs to Cassandra Clares and I am highly anticipating the last one!**

* * *

I guess it would have been better to just call my mom after all. I think I would rather sitting through an hour or two of my mom chastising me and possibly grounding me than having to be stuck in this situation. My anger seemed so childish now that the danger was right in front me. I know I should be fighting back, but I just felt so weak... I slowly started to feel my consciousness slipping away, along with the little strength I had.

_...Where was I? I looked around, confused of my whereabouts. I couldn't even see anything! It was pitch black—oh... I remember this dream; the one I had last night. But there was something different about this one. I looked behind me expecting to see nothing but darkness, as usual. Only to be faced with a door; the very door that I had been trying to find for hours the other night. There were whispering voices heard on the other side. I slowly opened the door just enough so I could see who was inside. _

"_I want you out and now! You've already ruined this family enough," I heard the familiar voice of my mother saying._

"_I don't know how many times I have to tell you Jocelyn, but if I'm leaving I'm bringing my son with me," a male voice said, not one of which I recognized. _

"_If you really think you can get away with it I'll fight for custody if I have to, but there's no way I am letting you leave with Sebastian!" she said, her voice slowly rising._

_I suddenly started feeling scared, not sure what to think of this. Why was I seeing this? Was this my father? I know he left us when I was at a young age but was this actually how it had happened? That seemed a little far fetched. Why would I envision a fight that never happened? _

"_Fine, then I'm taking Clarissa with me," he said darkly._

"_Don't you dare touch her!" My mother exploded. I saw the surprised look on her face as the man, who was a stranger to me, raised his hand and slapped her across the face. _

_I pulled back from the door abruptly, gasping loudly. The man that I had seen abuse my mother turned to look at me and started walking in my direction. _

"_Clarissa!" he snapped. _

_I ran the other direction, afraid for my dear life. My mother was screaming at him to leave me alone, but I didn't look back to see if he had listened to her. Next thing I knew I found myself in darkness once again. I was breathing heavily but I wouldn't let myself stop now._

_When I finally stopped running it was when my legs couldn't carry me any longer and I collapsed to the ground. I tried to catch my breath and looked back to see if he was still on my tracks. Not only was he right behind me, but his hand was raised over his head ready to strike. _

"_How many times must I tell you, Clarissa, that you shouldn't eavesdrop when mommy and daddy are talking?" he said through clenched teeth._

"_I-I'm sorry daddy! I promise I won't do it again!" I heard myself say. Though it wasn't my voice; it sounded like a child's voice. His hand came down and I started to scream._

* * *

I woke up screaming, the dream slowly melting away around me. I started looking at my surroundings, expecting to see a bunch of drunk and passed out guys, and worst, me naked. A quick look at myself proved that I was still completely dressed and untouched. As I looked around I realized that I actually recognized this living room, and the couch I was sleeping on, and the cat that was on my legs and staring at me like I was completely nuts. Just as it clicked in my mind of who's house I was at, a tall and lanky man with spiky black hair, came walking around the corner.

"Oh, you're awake. Well, with that scream, maybe the whole neighborhood is as well," Magnus Bane said, being his sarcastic self. Magnus was a close family friend ever since my father had left the picture. I used to call him 'Uncle Magnus', but that nickname hadn't lasted very long since every time I would call him that he would smack me behind the head. Chariman Meow, the cat currently on my legs, jumped off and went to rub himself against his owner.

"Um... it' nice to see you again and everything but... what am I doing here?" I asked, since last thing I remembered a bunch of drunk guys were harassing me to go back to their house.

He took a seat at the end of the couch, shaking his head at me. "Honestly, what were you thinking walking home alone at ten at night, huh? What was going through your head when you thought 'hey! Maybe I should pass right by this bar at this time of night! Seems like a logical idea!'?" he said, looking at me skeptically.

I sighed, thinking that maybe my mom's speech would be less painful than Magnus'. He always knew exactly how to make you feel idiotic. It was a gift of his that had always gotten on my nerves. My body suddenly went rigid as a thought went through my head.

"Did you call my mom?" I asked in horror.

"Yes, actually I told her I found you at a strip club, dancing on one of the poles," he said, and for a second I actually thought he was serious. I opened my mouth to say something but he cut me off, "She called worried about you. She said she had tried calling Simon's phone, but he wasn't picking up. She tried calling yours but it went straight to voice mail, so it was probably dead," he explained. "I was at that very same bar where those drunk guys were, you know that? And how surprised was I when I told your mother I would go out and look for you and, hey, you were _right _there, making my job, oh, so much easier!" he said, obviously faking his ecstasy. "Except for one little problem," he said, turning serious, "you were unconscious and being practically molested with no one around to save you! Let me tell you that you are _extremely _lucky that I so happened to be there."

Although I very well knew I was being scolded, this was the happiest I have ever been in a while. "And what did you tell my mom?" I asked worriedly.

"Well, I sure wasn't going to tell her I found you in front of a bar with guys all over you. Then _my _ass would be in trouble too," he exclaimed, letting out a loud yawn, probably having been sleeping before I screamed and woke up the whole house. "I said you were already here when I got home, sleeping on the couch," he said. I let out a sigh of relief.

"Thanks, Magnus," I said, him being my favorite person in the world at this very moment.

"Mhm, now back to you. What _were _you doing outside... at night... alone?"

I went into an explanation of how we met the Lightwood's at school and how they had invited us over. How my brother decided it would be a good time to be a dick and got me angry, so I left.

"And Simon didn't come along?" he asked.

I shook my head, "He wanted to stay with Isabelle," I said matter-of-factly. Magnus pinched the bridge of his nose in frustration.

"Next time I see that kid, he's dead," he said menacingly.

"Magnus! I can't blame him for what almost happened tonight. I overreacted and decided to leave, knowing the dangers that were out there. I wasn't going to ruin his night simply because mine was ruined." He looked at me incredulously.

"Look at how much I care about how his night was going," he pointed out. "I don't _care_ if him and Isabelle were making out and he was having the time of his life! From what you're telling me you guys were just doing small talk..." he sighed. "Next time you leave a place out of rage, alone, call _me _at least."

I nodded, not knowing what else to say. In a way he was right; nothing was going to happen between Simon and Isabelle, so staying longer or leaving sooner wouldn't of made much of a difference. But I could've gone with the _logical _decision to stay there and call for a ride, but then Simon would've kept persuading me to stay. I shook my head to clear my thoughts.

"Anyways, when it all comes down to it, I'm glad you found me tonight."

He raised an eyebrow, "Why wouldn't you be?" he said, smirking. I chuckled. If only I could live with him, where there would be _no _Sebastian to bother me. My eyes lit up.

"Hey Magnus," I started brightly. He suddenly got up, starting to leave the room. "Hey! I'm talking to you!" I exclaimed.

He stopped and looked back at me. "I know, but I already don't like where this conversation is going," he told me and started walking away again.

"Can I live with you?" I blurted out before he was out of sight. He, once again, turned around. By the way he was looking at me I think he had expected it. He scratched the back of his head.

"Why?"

I shrugged, "I wouldn't have to deal with Sebastian. And I would even help around the house and stay out of your way," I said, trying to seem innocent. Magnus exhaled loudly, exasperated. He walked back to the couch and sat on the arm that was beside me.

"Listen Clary, it's not that I don't want to. I wouldn't _mind_ having you here, but I'm a busy guy and I'm not as great as you may think I am," he started saying.

"Trust me, you can't be any worse than Sebastian," I pointed out. He let out a dry laugh and ruffled my hair. I gave him a small glare and flattened them again. "I'm not a kid anymore, Magnus," I said, half serious and half joking.

"Yeah you are. If you weren't, you would've known not to go out alone tonight," he said with a mocking grin on his face.

I sucked in a deep breath, "I'll let that one slide since you might be my care taker."

He rolled his eyes, "And what about your mom? Don't you think she wouldn't be insulted if you told her you wanted to leave the house and live with me? Me who lives ten minutes away from you and lives even farther from your school than you do?" he asked, testing me.

I bit my bottom lip nervously, thinking about what he just said. I do love my mom, but she can handle Sebastian a lot better than I can. He never actually talked back to her or anything; I guess he has _some _respect.

"We can tell her it's temporary," I suggested.

Magnus got up, "Aright, I'll be your mom and you will be my daughter coming to tell me you want to move out for a while... Go," he said. I stared at him, wondering if he was actually serious. When he just looked at me expectantly, I took that as confirmation.

"Um... Mom," I started unsurely, already feeling silly, "I was wondering if it would be okay if I'd go and live with Magnus for a while." Magnus made a surprised face and put his hands on his hips.

"Why, honey?" he said in a higher voice, trying to imitate my mom. I found it _really _hard to keep my serious.

"Well, you know, I've been having trouble getting along with Sebastian and I thought it would be better to take some time away," I continued.

"What do you mean?"

"Um, well he's just been insulting me and bugging me and I just need to keep my distance for a while."

"Well why didn't you tell me! I'll go and talk to him for you."

I glared at him, "Now you're just making this difficult," I said. He let go of his imitating posture and became himself again.

"That's exactly what will happen and you know it," he explained.

"Maybe you can talk to her?" I asked hopefully.

"Why do you hate your brother so much, anyway?" he asked instead of answering my question. I suddenly felt uncomfortable, never having liked to talk about that subject.

"Um, I just don't?" I said, or more like asked.

Magnus smirked, "If you want me to talk to your mom about it, I need to know if your reasoning is rational first."

I sighed, suddenly hating the fact that he was somewhat of a mastermind... and _evil _mastermind.

"Well, it used to be fine between us, I think. It mostly started when my dad left that things... got intense between us," I started. "I don't remember my dad," I said, not mentioning the fact that I thought I had seen him in one of my dreams, "but I know that him and Sebastian were close. When he left I think that, instead of taking his anger out on our mom, he started taking it out on me," I stated. Although I noticed that Magnus had tensed up a little. I went on with my story, "He kept teasing me, and at first my mom always told me to try and ignore it 'cause when he'll get older he would be more mature and leave me alone. Obviously that didn't happen," I finished in an ominous tone.

"Okay, but it's normal for siblings to fight, why do you hate him so much? Does the teasing bother you _that _much?"

I thought about it for a moment, "I don't think it's necessarily that. I mean, Simon teases me all the time and I don't mind..." A thought suddenly struck me. "You know what I do remember of what happened after my dad left?" Magnus looked at me expectantly. "My mom... crying. Not 'cause he was gone, but Sebastian almost acted like he despised her or something. He would always lock himself in his room, ignoring her calls and pleas for him to come out. When he finally _did _come out, everything was fine between them. Though not so much between me and him. I think he probably blamed me for my dad leaving and the grudge is still there. And since I barely even know my father, I hardly think it's fair. So, I guess that's why," I finished, finding myself lost in thought. I hadn't _actually _thought about it so deeply before.

"Alright, well it's getting late. Go to bed, you still have school tomorrow," he said, getting up.

"Are you going to talk to my mom?" I heard him chuckle.

"You're high on rage right now and spooked because you almost got raped," he explained. "You say that you're brother blamed you for your father's leave and say it's not your fault; yet you're blaming him for your irrationality tonight."

I had no idea what to reply to that. He smirked and started saying over his shoulder as he walked out, "Sleep on it and if tomorrow you still want to stay I'll talk to your mom." With that said he left, leaving me alone with my thoughts.

I looked at the table beside me and saw my phone charging. I picked it up and opened it to see that I had ten missed calls from Simon and twenty-two from my mom. Well, Magnus had already called my mom and reassured her, so now I might as well call Simon.

I dialed his number and put the phone to my ear. The first ring had barely even started before he answered. "Clary?" he answered frantically. I couldn't help but chuckle.

"Yeah, it's me Simon."

"Where are you? What happened? Your mom called me like seven times!"

"And you didn't pick up?" I asked, flabbergasted.

"My phone was in my bag and when I went to check if you had texted me I saw the calls. I listened to the voice message and she was asking if I knew where you were 'cause you weren't home yet. And it had been over an hour since you had left! You scared me to death Clary! I told you that—"

I interrupted him, "Woah, Simon! Listen, I _am _sorry. What I did was stupid, but I'm safe now and that's what counts," I reassured him. I heard him take in a deep breath.

"Where are you right now?" he asked, having finally calmed down.

"At Magus'," I answered him.

"What happened?" He asked immediately after. I gave him a little walk through of my night.

"..." He was silent for a few minutes.

"You okay?" I said nervously.

"Next time I'm coming with you," he said firmly.

"There won't be a next time, Simon. I was scared half to death tonight. I don't plan to go through it again," I replied, feeling my own heart quicken at the memory.

"Alright... So do you want me to meet you at Magnus' house tomorrow?" he asked.

"No, it's fine. We can just meet up at school," I suggested. It probably wouldn't be a really good idea considering the fact that Magnus wasn't exactly _happy _with Simon right now.

"Okay, if you're good with that."

"No worries, there shouldn't be any danger in the sunlight," I said jokingly, trying to lift the mood a little. He didn't laugh.

"Clary," he said.

"Hm?"

"... I'm glad you're okay," he added before hanging up. I closed my phone and put it back on the table. I laid myself back on the couch, closing my eyes and having a dreamless sleep.

* * *

I woke up to the sound of purring and Chairman Meow rubbing his face against mine. I opened my eyes and gently pushed him back.

"What time is it?" I asked to no one in particular. Nonetheless I still got an answer.

"You're late, if that's what you're wondering," I heard a familiar voice. I looked behind me to see Sebastian leaning on the wall with crossed arms. I rubbed my eyes, making sure my mind wasn't playing tricks on me.

"What are you doing here?" I asked once I realized he was actually standing in front of me. He threw me some clothes.

"Get dressed, we're already late as it is," he said. Without much questioning as to why my brother was here or how he had figured it out, I went to the bathroom and quickly got dressed. I walked out and put on my shoes, having no time for breakfast. Sebastian was still waiting and I saw that my bag was beside him.

"Oh, uh... thanks," I said as I slid it onto my shoulders. He didn't say anything, simply opened the door and waited for me to get out.

We started walking in silence. After a few minutes passed I looked at him, "Why did you come and get me?" I asked, the question had been nagging me ever since I woke up to see his face this morning.

He shrugged, "Mom asked me to," he said simply.

"Oh," I said, looking back at the ground. It wasn't too long after that he started talking again.

"You really shouldn't take things so seriously," he said a little harshly.

"Or maybe you shouldn't take things so far," I retorted, rolling my eyes.

"So the best thing to do is to storm out into an unknown neighborhood to you?" he said, his voice slightly picking up. I let out an annoyed breath.

"What do you want me to say?" I said. Stopping abruptly. "That I'm an idiot? That I should've called someone instead? Because I know that! I know that I overreacted, but sorry if I'm human!" I spat out, staring him down.

His fist were clenched and he whipped his body around to look at me straight in the eyes, "What do you want _me _to do, Clary!?" he exclaimed. "Never in all the years that I have been insulting you that you stormed out alone at night! Having _no _idea where the hell you're going!" I was taken aback. Here my brother was, chastising me for leaving at night when it was all his fault.

"You're impossible," I said under my breath and started walking away. He grabbed my wrist.

"Clary—"

"I don't want to hear it," I interrupted him and ripped my hand away from his grip. As I kept walking I heard him scream behind me, "Clarissa!" I made my way to school while ignoring him the rest of the way.

* * *

I quickly went to school and into my first class. Since it was already almost done, the class went by pretty fast. My next class was English; the class I had with Simon, Isabelle and Jace. When I walked in I saw Simon already waiting for me at my desk. As soon as he saw me he started making his way towards me.

"Where were you? I didn't see you this morning," he said, having his locker right beside mine.

"I slept in... I guess I'm used to my mom waking me up," I said, chuckling weakly. Next thing I knew I was in Simon's arms as he hugged me tightly. Nothing else was said and we didn't part until we heard Jace saying,

"I didn't see her this morning either," he was talking to Isabelle. I looked back at him with a sheepish smile.

"Sorry I left early yesterday," I said. He stopped and looked at me dumbfounded, and I think I saw some relief in those golden eyes of his.

"You... when did you get home?" he asked.

I shrugged, "I'm not sure. Last thing I remembered was that it was past ten and some drunk guys came out of the bar," I explained.

"You were assaulted by some drunk guys!" he said a little too loudly, but no one had seemed to hear. I lowered my voice just in case.

"Jace, I'm okay as you can see. It happened, I was scared, and I don't plan for it to happen any time soon," I told him. He was about to say something but Isabelle beat him to it.

"We're just glad you're okay," she said, grabbing my hand reassuringly. I smiled thankfully at her.

The bell rang so we all took our places. Though it was hard to concentrate with Jace's leg shaking constantly and his fingers tapping on his desk. After five minutes of non-stop shaking and tapping, I couldn't take it anymore and reached over to put my hand over his. He stopped altogether and looked at me.

"Are you done?" I whispered roughly. Jace said nothing and as the silence carried on I started realizing our proximity and how my hand was placed over his warm one, and his eyes looking straight at mine. My breath hitched and I pulled back.

"What's wrong?" he asked. I shook my head, not wanting to look up, afraid that I was blushing.

He sighed and I saw him, from the corner of my eyes, ripping a piece of paper and scribbling something on it. He passed it to me and I looked at it curiously, only to see his cell phone number and name on it. I raised an eyebrow at him. Not that I minded having Jace's number, that wasn't it _at all_, but curiosity took the best of me.

"If ever you're in trouble, need something, honestly just anything at all, call me. Okay?" he told me, looking at me expectantly. All I could do was nod, since my voice was failing me. I sat back against my chair, thinking the conversation was over, but he continued on.

"When Simon and Sebastian heard those messages they started flipping out and went out to try and find you," he explained.

I froze, "Sebastian?" I asked, making sure I had heard him right. He nodded, confirming my thought.

"He already wasn't happy when Simon came back upstairs without you. And he was even madder when he heard the messages from your mom saying that you weren't home yet," he was saying. I stared at him with disbelief clear in my eyes.

"Sebastian... Sebastian Fray?" I asked. Jace slowly turned his head to look at me with a raised eyebrow.

"Was there another Sebastian at my house yesterday?"

I sighed, frustrated. Of course he would do that! Now it makes me look like the bad guy and he looks like the concerned older brother. I calmed down and turned my head towards him.

"Is Sebastian and Alec good friends now?" Jace nodded, looking at me suspiciously.

"You really don't like your brother, do you?"

I let out another sigh, "It's not that simple, Jace," I said, wanting him to drop the subject. Apparently he did not.

"What did he do that was so bad?" he asked, trying to understand the feud between me and my brother, I'm guessing.

I shook my head, "Why don't you ask him? If he blames it on me, there's your answer."

"What?" he asked, confusion in his voice.

"He blames everything on me, Jace, that's why," I said, my voice going up a notch and I looked at the teacher to make sure he hadn't heard us.

"Isabelle, Alec, Max and I always blame things on each other," he countered, waiting for me to bring up another argument he could shut down. I shook my head and faced the front, not wanting to deal with this right now.

I would like to tell him about the story, it wasn't that he doesn't look like a trustworthy person. Nor do I have any reason to think he was untrustworthy, but in his head Sebastian was just a normal older brother and nothing was wrong with him.

"Alright everyone, since class is almost done I'll be making an announcement," the teacher said. I snapped out of my reverie and listened to what he had to say.

"I'll be gone for a few months for... personal reasons. So you will have a replacement teacher coming in and I expect every single one of you to behave. Do we understand each other?" he said.

"Yes, teacher!" Everyone said in unison. Everyone knew that there were some family problems going on in his life and we had been expecting this day for a while now. Not that we disliked him, just that we knew it was coming.

When the bell rang I quickly got up and made my way out of class. Before I could get to the door, I felt someone grab my hand which made me turn around. I expected to see Simon, jokingly accusing me of trying to escape him, but I found myself facing once again the angelic face that had been haunting my dreams a couple nights ago.

"What are you doing after school?" he asked.

"Nothing," I answered a little too quickly. I silently cursed myself for being too obvious.

"Did you want to meet me in front of the school after classes?"

"Okay..." I said, somewhat baffled by hid sudden invitation. He flashed me a smile and left, leaving me confused. I made my way to lunch with Simon, pushing the thought out of my head for the time being.

* * *

The rest of the day passed pretty slowly. I kept looking at the clock, wanting the day to come to an end. During gym class Jace was talking to some other guys and didn't even pay attention to me. When the end of the day came by, I went to my locker and put my homework in my bag and went to where I was supposed to meet Jace. I saw him sitting on a bench, reading a book.

I went up to him and said, "Where's Isabelle and Alec?"I asked out of curiosity. He looked up from his book and put it down beside him.

"They went home. I said I was going to stay back for a while," he said. The fact that he mentioned 'a while' made me realize that this wasn't just going to be a light and friendly discussion. He patted the spot beside him and I took the invitation.

"So I talked to Sebastian at lunch," he started. My teeth clenched, but I didn't say anything. "He said that you haven't been happy with him ever since your dad left."

I let out a humorless chuckle, "That's funny, that's when he started blaming everything on me. I guess nothing has changed after all," I said almost vehemently.

"Do you not like your brother because you think he's like your father?" he asked. I was about to deny it, thinking that my dad leaving had nothing to do with it, but I cut myself short and started thinking about it. Could that really be the reason? I mean, from what I've seen in my last dream, if that _was _my father, he was a spit image of Sebastian. And when he left, Sebastian had been practically suicidal and depressed before he finally decided to come out of his room and blame everything on me. Could I possibly think that my brother is going to turn out like my father?

"Well?" Jace asked, breaking my train of thought.

"I... I don't know, now that I think about it," I admitted. At this point I had quite a few questions about my father; why did he leave? Was he close with Sebastian? Did he love him more than me? All these questions but I had no idea who to ask them to. I couldn't ask my mother since it would only strike up bad memories. But who else would know?

An image popped up in my head and a spark of hope lighted up within me. I got up and looked back at Jace, a smile plastered on my face.

"Did you want to come with me somewhere?" I asked. He got up and dusted himself off, smirking at me.

"My curiosity won't let me say no." I rolled my eyes and grabbed his hand and started making my way to my destination. Nothing much was said as we walked.

"Who's house are going to anyway?" Jace asked.

I turned my head to look at him, "An old family friend," I said. We were at an intersection as I told him and I hadn't seen that the light was still red for the pedestrians and that there was a car coming straight for me. Jace's grip tightened on my hand and quickly pulled me back and his arms wrapped around me protectively as the car raced past us.

"You should really be more careful," he said, mock clear in his voice.

"Thank you, I hadn't realized that Sherlock," I retorted, a small smile on my face. He let me go to, what I noticed to be, my great despair.

"Any time, Watson."

I rolled my eyes and made my way safely across the street now that the light was green. After a few more minutes of walking, we finally arrived. I knocked on the person's door and waited. Magnus opened the door, rubbing his eyes sleepily.

"What do you want?" he asked groggily.

"I, uh, had a few questions about my dad..." I said, my voice trailing off as I saw his expression. Though it wasn't directed at me; he was looking straight at Jace with big eyes and seemed frozen in surprise. I looked at Jace to see the exact same expression.

"Do you two... know each other?" I asked, a little surprised myself.

"Since when are the Lightwood's in town?" he asked after a few moments of silence and completely ignoring my question.

"Last week," Jace answered. The two were now over their surprise, but they were now staring each other down.

"If you guys are here, there's gotta have something wrong going on," Magnus said, leaning against the door frame.

Jace raised an eyebrow. "You didn't hear?" he asked, taken aback. My eyes squinted in confusion.

"What is happening!?" I exclaimed. Magnus looked at in surprise.

"You're not frozen?"

"What?"

He coughed, "I mean, you're not freezing standing out there? Come on in," he said and stepped aside. I caught Jace and Magnus exchanging a knowing look and it was really getting on my nerves.

Was I frozen? What did he mean by that? It wasn't even cold outside so it was obviously a cover up. I wasn't born yesterday after all. We sat down on the couch as Magnus stood in front of us.

"So you had questions about your father?" he asked, changing the subject.

"I think I have more questions about how do you know Jace and his family now," I said accusingly, looking between Magnus and Jace.

Magnus was quick to answer, "I know his parents, that's all," he said.

I looked at him expectantly, "I highly doubt that's _all_."

"Listen, if you're only here to pry into my personal life, then please feel free to get out," he said straight forward, pointing at the door.

I sighed, "Fine." Jace put his hand on my knee reassuringly, "I'll explain later," he whispered low enough that only I heard it. I gave a slight nod and went on with my questions.

"Why did my dad leave us?" I started. He looked at me tiredly.

"Why the sudden interest?" he countered.

"You didn't answer my question."

"And you barged into my house expecting that I would tell you everything," he said.

I gave him a small glare before saying, "I was talking with Jace and he came up with the point that I might hate Sebastian because of my dad," I said.

"Why don't you just ask your mom?"

"Because I don't want to bring back bad memories," I said, wanting him to just answer my question already.

"Or are you just afraid of the answer?" he said.

"I'm asking you, why would I be afraid?" I said, starting to feel frustrated.

"Because your mom knows the _real _reason, wouldn't you agree? She can say anything to people; it could either be true or a total lie. She might not say anything at all and the only thing the others can do is guess. Why would you want to hear a _possible _scenario from me when you can ask your mom?"

I felt like he was avoiding my question. "What if she tells _me _a lie?"

"Okay, this is getting ridiculous," Jace interjected. "Are you going to answer the question or not?" he asked, looking at Magnus.

"I will, in two conditions though," he said.

"What?" I asked eagerly.

"One, you won't ask me to live here anymore. And two, you're going to tell your mom about this conversation," he stated.

My eyes widened, "But why?"

"My goal in life isn't to go behind your mother's back and help her daughter. I don't mind helping you, but your mom deserves to know," he explained. I bit my lip, knowing he was right. I finally nodded and stayed silent so we could move on.

"Alright, so if I don't get a call from your mom by tomorrow, I'll _know _you didn't tell her." I couldn't help but chuckle a little, knowing that it was probably true. "So, moving on to your father. From what your mom told me, he left because you weren't the daughter he imagined to have," he said. I felt my heart clench at the end of that sentence. From the corner of my eyes I saw that Jace was also surprised.

"He left... because of me?"

Magnus nodded, "I told you it might not be something you wanted to hear," he repeated.

"But..." I couldn't even finish my sentence.

"Don't take it too much at heart, Clary. It's because him and Sebastian were so close that he expected the same from you. Let's just say he liked having the control in the family. When he saw that you were always stuck to your mom and mostly listened to her, he didn't like it," he elaborated. I shook my head, not being able to wrap finger around the situation.

We stayed in silence for a few moments before the phone started ringing. Magnus made his way to go and pick up the phone. Jace and I were now alone.

"I can't believe my father left because of me," I said to myself.

Jace put his hand on my shoulder, "You can't really blame yourself, Clary. He seems somewhat... possessive from what I heard from Magnus." I just shook my head, thinking about how my mother should have felt when he left. How Sebastian had been treating her. I suddenly felt Jace's hands on both sides of my face and made me look at him.

"Have you been living a bad life without him?" I shook my head as much as I could with him holding it. "Does your mom look unhappy?" Once again, I made my head move from side to side. "Then what's the point of blaming yourself now that you know the reason?" I nodded, showing that I understood him.

He was right, our family had been doing fine up till now; me knowing the reason _now _doesn't really change anything. Except that now I understand a little more about my brother's hatred towards me. If it was actually my fault and he had been really close to him, I guess I would be mad too. Maybe not as intensely, but still.

"What a touching moment," I heard Magnus say. Jace dropped his hands and I pulled back a little, trying to hide the blush that was creeping up my face.

"Anyways, that was your mom. You should really keep your phone on you," he said.

I smiled sheepishly, "Sorry. What did she want?"

"She asked if I had seen you. I said you were here. She said it was time for you to go home," he told me. I got up and started walking to the entrance, Jace following behind me.

"Thanks for everything, Magnus," I said when I was ready to leave.

He nodded, "Hope to see you soon," he said, though he was looking at Jace. At this point I was too tired to care.

"Yeah, see you around." I said, acting like I hadn't seen anything. Jace gave a little wave and we left.

* * *

Jace had walked me home, and we were now standing in front of my door.

"So, how are you feeling about everything?" he asked.

"Confused, but I'll figure it out," I said with a little laugh at the end. He showed a little smile.

"Alright, well give me a call if you need anything," he said before going down the steps and walking away. I couldn't keep my eyes off of his retrieving figure.

"Jace!" He turned around and looked at me. I quickly realized I had nothing to say, "Do you... need a ride home?" I asked, seeing that it was dark out. And we all know how well that went last night.

Jace shook his head with a smirk, "No worries, Clary, I'll be fine," he said.

"Are you sure?"

He nodded once more, "I'll text you when I get home, okay?" he reassured me and started walking again.

I went back in and the first thing I did was enter his number in my phone, that was in my bag, and text him so he would have my number. After that I started making my way to the living room and saw my mom sitting on the couch. As soon as I walked in she got up and scooped me up in her arms.

"You don't know how worried I was about you, Clarissa," she exclaimed.

"I'm sorry mom, I'll make sure that my phone is fully charged and on me every single day from now on," I said.

She nodded seriously, "You better, or else you're never getting out of this house again except for school." I smiled and hugged her again, feeling good to be safe at home.

"Now what were you doing at Magnus' house?" I sighed and sat down on the couch with her. I explained to her why I had walked alone at night, leaving the bar incident out of the story, and the conversation between Jace and I that brought us to go to Magnus' house and ask him about my dad.

When I was done she looked at me, a little baffled. "You said the name Isabelle and Alec... Lightwood?" she asked.

I raised an eyebrow at her, "You know them too?" I asked, wondering why and how they knew the Lightwoods.

"Oh, we just went to school together and I heard they had gotten children. The two I knew of were Alec and Isabelle." I nodded, not really wanting to press on the subject.

"But why didn't you tell me Sebastian has been bugging you?"

I chuckled, "It happened yesterday, mom, and I slept at Magnus' house," I said.

My mom smiled, "Right, for some reason it seemed longer than that." I hugged her once more and then got up.

"Anyway, I'm going to go to bed now," I declared and started making my way upstairs.

"Oh, Clary, have you seen your brother?" I looked back at her with a raised eyebrow."

"No, why?" I asked.

"Well, yesterday he came back when we were trying to find you and he went to Magnus' house when we found out you were there. He called me to say you were asleep and he didn't want to wake you up. He stayed the night too, but I haven't seen or heard of him since. I was just wondering if you knew."

_Sebastian came to get me? _I thought to myself.

"Alright, well good night!" I said before going up to my room. I got dressed and lied down on my bed, waiting for a text from Jace... or even Sebastian. I decided it would just be easier to call him. I dialed his number and put my phone to my ear. Three rings went by and he didn't pick up. On the fourth ring he finally did.

"Hello?" he said, sounding like I had disturbed him.

"Um, hey..." I started, not sure what to say.

"Clary? Did you call for some small talk or for something important?" he said irritatedly.

"No, mom just wanted to know where you are," I said, suddenly feeling stupid for calling him.

"I went to the movies with Sarah 'cause yesterday I didn't get the chance," he said, and I think there was a hint of accusation in his tone. Then again, there always _was_.

"Oh, okay... Just making sure," I said.

"Alright, see you tomor—"

"Thank you for yesterday," I blurted out and hung up on him, not wanting to hear what he would have to say. I took a deep breath and put my phone on my bedside table. Until I heard it vibrate.

_I am now home, safe and sound :)_

It was Jace texting me. I smiled to myself and texted him back.

_Alright, gnight! :)_

Now that I finally had piece in mind that everyone was okay and in one piece, I fell asleep.

* * *

I woke up from a dreamless sleep, surprisingly, to Sebastian repeatedly hitting my face with a pillow. I opened my eyes and got up, grabbing my own pillow and hitting him in the face with it.

"Are you done?" I asked him aggravatingly. He started laughing and dropped the pillow on the floor.

"Why are you so angry? You were so _worried _about me yesterday, I'm surprised you didn't wake up and wrap your arms around me screaming 'Oh Sebastian, I'm so glad your okay!'" he exclaimed, with a slight chuckle at the end.

"Mom told me to call you," I said defensively, refusing to admit that I was actually worried. Which was a feeling that I now wondered if it was actually weird. I must've been really tired yesterday night.

"Really? 'Cause when I got back I got chastised for not letting anyone know where I was and when I said I told Clary she said that _you _hadn't said anything," he countered, shutting down my argument.

I opened my mouth to say something, but quickly closed it, not wanting to dig myself a bigger hole. Sebastian just smirked and walked out of my room, leaving me to my business. I did my usual routine and went downstairs to eat. When Simon knocked on our door I went to open it and we both left to go to school.

"So, how did things go with Jace yesterday?" he started the conversation.

I raised an eyebrow, "How did you know I was with Jace?" Since I didn't remember mentioning it to him, it made me kind of curious that he knew.

"Oh, Isabelle told me when I went to her house yesterday," he stated. I looked at him with a surprised look.

"You were at Isabelle's house yesterday?" I asked. He just nodded and didn't say anything more about it. We walked the rest of they way in somewhat silence; exchanging a few small talks for either homework or about our classes, but nothing more.

"We have English first, right?" he asked.

"Yup, with the new substitute teacher," I answered him. We were now at our lockers and putting things in and taking things out. When we were both ready we went to class with only a few minutes to spare.

"Well, somebody's late this morning," we heard Isabelle say as soon as we walked in. Her and Jace walked up to us.

Simon smiled sheepishly, "I guess we hadn't really taken notice of the time," he said, scratching the back of his neck.

"Why, did you have anything important to tell us?" I said, crossing my arms. I don't know if this feeling was called jealousy, but I had no reason to be mad at Isabelle. She's a nice girl and even if her and Simon _would _be going out, it wouldn't be any of my business. Either way, I started feeling a little defensive.

Isabelle seemed a little taken aback, "No, just making conversation," she said. I sighed and dropped my arms.

"Sorry, didn't mean to snap," I said. Isabelle smiled reassuringly and the bell rang, so Jace and I went to our places in the back.

"You okay?" Jace asked once we sat down.

I nodded, "Yeah, just a little protective for no reason I guess."

"Well, he is like your brother after all. Sometimes we just can't help it," he said, chuckling at my protectiveness.

"Isabelle's your sister, no?" I said, looking at him skeptically. He nodded, as if to confirm my thought.

"Yes, but I'm just not as obvious about it," he pointed out with a smirk. Then the teacher walked in so I couldn't say anything. Not that I could've anyway, I had pretty much nothing to say after that. I just had to get over myself.

I looked up front to see who our new temporary teacher would be. What I saw made my jaw drop and my eyes widen.

_No, I can't be seeing this right,_ I thought to myself, rubbing eyes really hard thinking, _hoping,_ that this was a dream.

"Hello class, I shall be your substitute teacher for the duration of your previous teacher's absence. My name is Valentine..."

**LINE**

**Yaaay~! Second chapter finally out! Once again, sorry for the slight delay and I hope that this second chapter can make up for it. The third chapter is already being worked on and hopefully it'll be done soon!**

**Oh and just in case you were curious or if you somewhat felt like this chapter was quite long, it was because I used this chapter to patch up a few holes and answer a few questions. And as for Sebastian may or may not care thing, let me know what you guys think. I mean, would you like him to become a caring-ish brother or would you all rather keep him to the Sbeastian we all know and hate (or love, depending on people's opinions)? Hopefully it was still entertaining and the third chapter will definitely be... interesting. Hehe~  
**

**Let me know what you think and I shall see you all, hopefully, soon!**


	3. Not again

**Hellooo everyone! Yes, I know I am very late, but better late than never right? Right?... No? Oh, okay. Haha anyway, if you want to hear this little story go right ahead and read, but if not you can just skip the next paragraph and move on:**

**I usually write my story on paper and then type it and then upload it. But for the third chapter decided that I would just type it on my laptop to save time. But the first time I decided to do this, my computer thought it would a good time to crash and erase everything on my computer... When I was almost done the chapter -.- And then I got really down and it took a long time before I decided to actually restart... the whole.. chapter! And Christmas break came along, so that made things easier too. **

**Well, here's the third chapter everyone! Hope you all enjoy it!**

**Disclaimer: **I do not own the Mortal Instruments.

* * *

I couldn't believe my eyes as I saw the very same man that was in my nightmares the other night standing before me.

Out of the corner of my eyes I saw that Jace was just as surprised as I was; his eyes were wide and he was staring right in front of him and his jaw was clenched. At this very moment I was already too confused with the fact that the man, who was probably my father, was our new replacement teacher to wonder why _Jace _was acting the same way.

Was this actually my father? He looked exactly like the person that had appeared in my sleep, the one who had hurt my mother. The more that I stared at him, the more I realized that he resembled Sebastian than I first assumed. What with his dark eyes, almost black, seemed to pierce right through everyone his eyes landed on and his blonde, practically white, hair reminded me of my brother.

This situation was too unreal for it to only be a coincidence.

"Jace," I whispered, his expression never once wavering. It was starting to worry me. "_Jace_," I said a little more vigorously, napping my fingers in front of his face.

He finally blinked and snapped out of his reverie. Though his eyes still seemed a little unsure as he looked at me questioningly.

"Are you okay?" I asked slowly, my concern starting to grow by the second. He seemed to be taking this little surprise harder than me.

"Oh, yeah, I just..." his sentence trailed off.

"You two in the back, anything you would like to share with the class?"

I felt my body tense as his eyes stopped directly on me. I slightly shook my head, not daring to talk back in fear of what he might do.

"Then please refrain from speaking to each other while I am teaching a class," he said coldly.

I swallowed a big lump in my throat and nodded. Valentine, our substitute teacher or my father... I wasn't even sure how to address him. He turned towards the black board and carried on with his lesson.

The whole time I was barely listening as I kept zoning out. When class was almost done, twenty minutes left, Jace stood up abruptly and simply left the class room, leaving all of his things behind. Isabelle was quick to react as she sprinted out of class right behind Jace, also leaving her bag behind.

Simon and I exchanged a glance, the same questions running through our heads. _What's wrong? Where are they going? Should we follow them? _ Valentine stopped for a moment, watched them leave, and without even a blink of an eye he continue with his lesson, as if nothing happened. This only brought up more questions and none of them were going to be answered any time soon it seemed.

When the bell finally rang I gathered my things and went to see Simon.

"They didn't come back yet," I stated, looking at the entrance as if they would magically appear somehow, at any moment.

"Do we keep their stuff until we see them again?" Simon asked, glancing at Isabelle's bag skeptically.

"I guess..." I said uneasily, as I had a feeling we wouldn't be seeing them any time soon. I grabbed Jace's bag and we started making our way out of class.

"Clarissa."

I heard someone call my name. I turned around to see an expecting Valentine looking straight at me again. I told Simon that I would catch up to him later and closed the door behind him.

"Yes, Mr. Valentine?" I asked, approaching him cautiously.

"Do you have a brother?" he said out of the blue. I squinted my eyes, having no idea how this was relevant at all.

"Um, yes," I said, still looking at him suspiciously.

"What's his name?"

"Um... not to be rude, but why?" I asked. I knew for a fact that this could very well be my father, but why was he asking all these questions that he already knew the answer to? And why only about Sebastian? Unless for some reason he completely forgot about his son, but I highly doubted that that was the case here.

_What am I thinking? Who says this is even my father? _But my gut kept telling me that it was true.

"Oh, just curious, of course. How's your mother?"

I stood there, practically gawking at him. I had no idea what to think about this situation and where he was going with this. "Fine..." I said, feeling no need to elaborate.

"Okay, well you're going to be late for your next class so I'll write you a note."

I nodded, dumbfounded. He scribbled on some piece of paper and gave it to me. Just as I picked up the note, the bell rang.

"Sorry to keep to keep you waiting, Clarissa." For some reason I felt like there was a double meaning to that sentence, "See you tomorrow."

After that I walked out, trying to process everything that had just happened. _Should I be worried? _I asked myself as I made my way to my next class. Everyone stopped what they were doing and looked at me as I walked in.

I waved the note to my teacher, "Mr. Valentine kept me after class, sorry," I said.

My teacher nodded and told me to sit down. When I sat down I put the note down on the table and actually read what was on the note.

_Make sure to tell your mother I'm in town._

My whole body went rigid as I stared at the note in horrid shock. _Yes... I should be very worried. _

* * *

During the rest of the day I couldn't shake off the feeling that something _more _was going on. I already knew that Valentine meant trouble, but what kind of trouble? Plus I had been trying to call and text Jace all day and never once has he answered. In gym class I was planning on asking Alec if everything was okay, but he was nowhere to be found either.

After classes were done I headed to my locker and saw Simon, one look at him and I could already tell that Isabelle hasn't contacted him either.

"Do you think we should stop by their house?"

I shook my head, "They probably left because of something important. Bothering them would only make things worst," I stated, leaving out the part that they had seemed pretty spooked that Valentine was in our class.

Simon seemed reluctant to agree but he eventually nodded, worry clear in his eyes. I started putting the books I needed for tonight in my bag and a piece of paper fell to the ground. I raised an eyebrow and bent down to pick it up. I soon found out what it was and crumpled it in a little ball and threw it in the garbage that was near by in anger.

"What was that?" Simon asked curiously.

I shook my head, "Oh, they were just notes from last semester. I didn't need them anymore," I explained, lying through my teeth.

Simon crossed his arms and looked at me expectantly, "Really? I thought you were just about to burn a hole through that paper since you were glaring at it so hard. Were your notes that bad?"

I rolled my eyes and let out a little chuckle.

"Did you want to hang ou at my place?" I asked, grabbing my bag and making my way to the school's front entrance.

"Okay, I can take hint," he said teasingly, "Sure, we can do our English homework," he said, falling into step beside me.

I bit my bottom lip; him mentioning English only made me think about the note that I had just thrown out. _Make sure to tell your mother I'm in town. _All day that sentence had been haunting my thoughts. The worst part was that I didn't know what to do about it. If I don't tell my mother, something bad could happen, and if I do tell her, something bad is _bound _to happen.

As we walked out of school my phone started ringing. I quickly took it out of my pocket in hopes that it would be Jace or even Isabelle. When I put it to my ears I heard the panicked voice of my mother.

"Clary, are you alright?" she asked frantically.

"M-Mom? What's wrong? What—"

"There's no time to explain. Whatever you do Clary, do not come back home! It isn't safe here," she said quickly into the receiver.

"Mom! What's happening?" I screamed, tears starting to sting the back of my eyes. I saw Simon looking at me with a frantic questioning glance.

"I love you honey, don't you forget that."

"MOM!"

The line went dead; the only sound was a constant buzzing in my ears. I closed my phone and before Simon could even start questioning me I broke into a sprint.

"Clary, what's wrong!" he screamed afer me, following behind.

"I have to go and save my mother!" I said over my shoulder and demanded my feet to go faster. The tears were falling freely down my cheeks by now but I was running so fast that the wind were drying them off. My legs were starting to get numb but I ignored it, I had one destination to get to and only one sentence in my mind that was motivating me to keep going.

_Make sure to tell your mom I'm in town. _

If I find out that this was all of _his _doing I... My thoughts got cut short as we finally arrived at my house.

Everything was... _burning_. My house was crumbling down to ashes! With my mother stuck inside of it!

"Mom!" I exclaimed and started running to the front door without hesitation, until I felt two arms wrapping around me and keeping me in place.

"Simon, let me go!" I said, trying to wriggle my way out of his grip. Although it was no use since Simon had always been stronger than me.

"Are you crazy? You're house is on _fire _Clary!" he said, trying to knock some sense into me. His grip never loosening.

"I can't leave my mom in there!" I said, the adrenaline rush starting to die down and I started to feel the fatigue from all the running and now my struggling. I heard the faint sound of fire truck sirens not too far away.

What seemed like hours later, the fire trucks finally arrived and extinguished the fire. At this point I had stopped fighting back and I just looked at the big pile of charred wood; what was once my house. Simon had loosened his grip and was now trying to comfort me, even though I could hear his voice was starting to crack.

One of the fireman came up to me, "Is this your house?" he asked gently.

I felt like screaming at him. Of course this was my house! If you see someone practically on her knees crying in front of a burnt house, it usually means that it was her house. But I tried to keep in mind that he just meant well and slowly nodded my head.

Simon then completely let go of me and stood beside me, "Is there anyone in the house?"

I could see that he was trying to stay strong for me right now, and I made a mental note of thanking him later on.

"They're searching the house as we speak," the fireman answered. "Where are your parents?" he asked.

I tried to hold back the tears that threatened to come again. "My mom called me not too long ago, telling me no to go home," I started, "I was worried so I ran back home and came to this," I finished, gesturing to what was once my house.

The man nodded, "And your father?"

Just hearing that made my teeth clench in frustration. That _evil, __twisted, _bastard! I swear when I find him I'm going to make him regret ever coming back here!

"He left when she was younger," Simon answered for me when I wasn't saying anything at all. After he said that I realized that he didn't know the truth about the current situation.

"I see," he said. "In the meantime, do you have any relatives that you could live with?"

"What about my mother?" I asked accusingly, completely ignoring his question.

"We're scouting the whole house to see if there is any body, but until we get back to you it would probably be better if you go to a relative's house," he told me.

I nodded, looking at my house; the place where I woke up in everyday to my mom's breakfast that she'd layed out on the table. The place that I came to everyday after school and saw my mom watching television or painting or talking on the phone... I clenched my fists, refusing to let myself have a break down here in front of everyone.

"Could you give us your contact information and we'll get back to you as soon as we can," he said. I nodded for the third time today and followed him to the truck where I filled out a report.

When I was done I walked back to Simon. We stood, simply staring at each other for a moment before I finally said, "I guess I should call Magnus."

"Yeah, let him know what happened."

I took my phone out of my pocket and started dialing his number. Before pressing the call button I changed my mind and put my phone back in my pocket.

"Let's just go," I said and started walking in the direction of Magnus' house.

"Don't you want to call Magnus? He could give us a ride," Simon suggested.

I shook my head, "I need a little bit of fresh air anyway. And some time to think." I stopped for a moment, letting everything sink in.

"Simon," I said.

"Yeah?"

"Would it be okay to be alone for a little while?" I asked, hoping he wouldn't take it the wrong way.

He gave me a small smile, "Sure, if that's what you want." He pulled me into a hug, "If you need anything just call me." He pulled away and gave my shoulders a reassuring squeeze. I gave him a small smile myself and we parted ways.

The whole walk passed by fast and I had almost not even realized that I was already here. In a way it's like I was expecting my second home to also be burning down too, but luckily it looked perfectly intact and Magnus' car was in the driveway, which meant he was here.

I went up to the door and rang the doorbell. I heard footsteps and not too long after the door opened, revealing Magnus with his usual spiky hair and glitter everywhere. He was wearing a long purple shirt with ripped jeans. He raised an eyebrow as he saw who was at his door.

"What brings you here, Clary?"

"Would it be okay if I came in?" I asked.

He probably realized something was wrong because as soon as I asked he quickly changed expression from laid back to worried. He stepped aside and gestured for me to come in. I walked inside and made my way to the living room, only to see Jace sitting on the couch. My eyes widened in surprise and I looked back at Magnus, hoping for an explanation. Once he saw what I was referring to he gave me a laid back smile.

"Oh right, Clary you've already met Jace, right?" I stared at the surprise guest and I could see by his reaction that he was also not expecting me here.

"Now sit down and tell me what happened," Magnus told me, pointing beside Jace.

"But why is Ja—"

"Sit! Down and tell me what's wrong," he interrupted me, obviously avoiding the subject.

I did as I was told and sat down and went into an explanation from when my mother called me to the fireman telling me to go and live at a relative's place. After I was done Magnus' expression showed disbelief. I looked at Jace from the corner of my eyes and saw that he was also in shock.

"Do you think it was an accident?" Magnus asked, although I could hear it in his voice and see it in his eyes that he clearly did not think so.

I shook my head, "There's something else that happened today," I started.

"Your father was in your English class," he said as if he already knew. I opened my mouth to ask how he already informed of this, but Jace reacted first.

"Valentine's your father!?" he exclaimed, flabbergasted. I was taken aback by his sudden reaction. Why would it bother him who's my father?

"Yes, why? Do you know him?"

We heard Magnus sigh across from us, "I'll explain later," he said while looking at Jace.

"So, you found out your dad was teaching your English class. Anything else?" he said, focusing back on me.

"He wanted me to come and see him after class and he gave me a note when I left. It said, 'make sure to tell your mother I'm in town,'" I recited the sentence that had been haunting me all day.

"Of course it was Valentine's doing. That crazy bastard only brings trouble with him," Jace said. His eyes then settled upon me, "You didn't tell anyone about this?" he accused me, as if I had committed a serious crime.

I crossed my arms defensively, "Well actually I was planning on telling you, but you weren't answering any of my calls or texts," I said.

He pursed his lips and looked down guiltily. He opened his mouth to say something, then closed it again. In the end he simply didn't say anything. I knew very well that what I had told him wasn't necessarily true, but there was no way that he could prove me wrong either.

"I don't think it would have changed anything even if she would've told anyone. So calm yourselves and you can take care of your little love quarrel some other time," Magnus said.

"Magnus!" I chastised him, feeling the blood rushing to my face.

He raised an eyebrow at me, "What?"

I turned my head to the side, away from Jace and said, "Anyways, what did you want to explain to us?"

When he started talking he wasn't looking at me anymore. I hid a little sigh of relief.

"Clary's mother is Jocelyn Fairchild," he said bluntly.

"But I thought she had only one child and he was a boy... and he burned in his house," Jace added the last part really lightly, as if he didn't want me to hear.

Magnus shook his head, "A lot of the things that you heard was probably a lie. The burnt house was only a story made up so Valentine and Jocelyn could go live in the human world peacefully and get away from all of the shadowhunters. At that time Jocelyn was pregnant with Clary," he glanced at me, "and she didn't want to bring her child into the world of the shadowhunters," he finished.

"Valentine... wanted to leave the shadowhunters?" Jace asked, looking at Magnus like what he was saying was blasphemy.

He burst out laughing while staring at Jace like he was an idiot, "Of course not! It's Valentine, do you really think he didn't have a plan in mind? Now for what that plan was, I have no idea but it must have failed. Jocelyn caught up to his plans and kicked him out before he could do any real damage," he said, leaning back and putting his intertwined hands behind his head comfortably.

At this point my head was reeling; so many questions racing through my head. _House burnt... Shadowhunters... Protecting me from a place I don't even know about... My own father, from what I understood, was evil?... _

I suddenly felt light headed and black dots were appearing in my vision. I guess someone had noticed because within moments I felt someone gently rubbing my back and shaking my arm lightly. I saw Magnus get up to go to the kitchen and when I looked at Jace, who was trying to reassure me, all I saw was his lips moving but nothing was coming out.

Not too long after I felt something cool touching my lips and soon realized it was water. My vision started to clear and I could finally get a grasp on what was happening around me.

"...okay?" I heard Jace finishing his sentence beside me.

"Huh?" I asked, taking another gulp of the ice cold water.

"He asked if you were feeling okay," Magnus repeated, standing on the other side of me.

I gave a small nod and got up abruptly. I was happy to see that I was stable enough to stand on my own two feet. I quickly started making my way out.

"Clary, what are you doing?" I heard Jace's voice ask.

"Leaving," I answered. This was just too much for me. With everything that was happening, I don't even think that I wanted to stick around to understand what they were talking about. I heard Jace sucking in a breath of air to keep talking but nothing came out. I'm guessing that Magnus shut him up as I heard his footsteps following close behind.

"Don't try to stop me, Magnus,_" _I warned him and turned around to face him.

He crossed his arms and leaned against the entrance's all, "Okay, but at least tell me where you're going," he said smugly.

I glared at him, "Where else would I go than hom—" I stopped dead in the middle of my sentence, realizing that what I was about to say is no longer possible. Even though, I still wanted out of here, at least for a little while. Maybe just take a little walk and then come back.

Just as I was about to leave I opened the door to Isabelle and Alec, who had his fist raised ready to knock.

Magnus smiled at his guests, "And the rest of the Lightwoods children arrive! Great timing too," he declared. Jace got up from his seat on the couch and joined the rest of the crowd at the entrance.

"Clary, what are you doing here?" Isabelle asked innocently.

"Oh you know, just learning a little history about my parents and where they came from. It's like a great mythical journey, I'm guessing you know it too?" I asked over enthusiastically with a fake smile plastered on my face. The two new guests stared behind me at Magnus and Jace with an uneasy look in their eyes.

"Yes, I'm talking about shadowhunters, whatever the hell those are," I clarified for them. An awkward atmosphere build itself in the room and I decided it would just be best if I'd leave.

"Well," I started, facing Isabelle and Alec, "you guys can do whatever you came here to do and I shall be going outside for a walk." They stepped aside to let me pass.

"Wait, I'll come along," Jace said, already putting his shoes on.

"Alone," I added, shooting him a small glare.

He chuckled ant looked at me challengingly, "Too bad."

I rolled my eyes and decided that it would make things easier and shorten a useless argument if I just let him tag along.

"Well, now that that's settled," Magnus said brightly. "Isabelle, Alec, please come in."

They took off their shoes and made their way to the living room. Right before leaving I had to do a double take, when I thought that I saw Magnus subtly running his hand through Alec's hair. When I saw his catty grin I realized that my eyes had not been deceiving me. _What? What just happened? _I thought in utter shock.

"Are you coming?" Jace asked behind me, waiting at the door.

"Oh, yeah, sorry," I mumbled and we walked out together onto the streets.

"So, is there any particular reasons as to why you're so upset?" the golden boy walking beside me asked.

I shrugged, "I don't know. I guess it's just..." I was trying to gather my thoughts to make a coherent sentence. "The whole sixteen years that I have been alive, never once did I think my mother was lying to me. She was always the one telling me to be true to myself and that lies only hurt people. Yet for these past sixteen years she's only been living a lie. All of that for Sebastian and I. In a way I feel angry 'cause she never told us. I don't know how much Sebastian knows about this. But I also know that she only did it to protect us and now Valentine's here, who's my father even though I'm not even sure who or what he is... And now my house is burned to the ground and I don't even know where my mother is..." I let my sentence trail off, feeling a little out of breath after my little monologue.

We stayed in silence for a moment before I felt my hand getting warmer. I looked down to see my hand clasped in Jace's tanned one. I looked up to see his penetrating golden eyes looking at me.

"We're going to get through it, okay? And knowing your mom was a shadowhunter she didn't burn with your house. I'm positive she's still alive and we're going to find her," he said meaningfully and I completely believed him. Maybe it was how his expression was just so fierce and full of passion that made me think he was so trustworthy.

I nodded, "Thanks, Jace." He smiled at me and looked in front of him again. We were still hand in hand, something that seemed to be unable to evade my mind for the time being, even though this was clearly not the time to worry about a possible love life.

"Um," I mumbled," Would you mind explaining to me a little more about, um what did you call them again... shadowhunters?"

Jace looked at me with a raised eyebrow, "Are you sure you're up for it?" he asked, obviously referring to the fact that I had practically fainted at Magnus' house.

I sucked in a deep breath, "Yeah, I'll be fine," I reassured him.

"Alright then." With that his grip on my hand tightened and he started pulling me around until we finally stopped in front of a coffee shop.

"Come on, we can talk here," he suggested and we went in.

The place was pretty dead except for a couple that was way in the back having coffee together. Jace lead me to a table where we sat and waited for a waiter to come by. Once the order was done and we got our drinks, Jace started explaining.

"You know all those creatures of the dark that children have grown up to fear? Like vampires, werewolves, demons and all?" my eyes slightly widened as I could see where this was going and it seemed impossible. "They've existed a lot longer on this planet than possibly even you humans have. And that's where us shadowhunters come in. We're here to kill the downworlders," he explained, looking at me wearily, awaiting my reaction.

"Are there any... _nice _downworlders?" I asked uncomfortably, the word still foreign on my lips.

Jace looked a little taken aback. "We never really take our time to find out. We see them attacking, or they attack us so we defend ourselves."

"But what if they're harmless?" I asked innocently. The man in front of me cracked a smile and chuckled.

"You're so naive, Clary," he said with a smirk on his face. "First thing you need to know about our world is," his stare turned serious and he made sure I was listening, "_no _one is harmless. Anyone, either it's the shadowhunters or the downworlders, they are capable of hurting people and they will not hesitate to do it."

I scrunched my eyebrows in thought, trying to imagine my mother. Instead of paint on her face it was splattered blood, and instead of a paint brush in her hand, she was holding a butcher knife. I shook my head at the thought in disbelief.

"So, what does my mom have to do with shadowhunters? And what about Magnus, is he a shadowhunter too?" I asked, trying to imagine Magnus the same way I tried with my mother. None of these images seemed to fit right to me.

"Your mom sort of goes down in history because she was part of the Circle. And Magnus isn't a shadowhunter, he's a warlock," he said that last part as if it were obvious. Although the image that popped into my head now only made me laugh. Magnus wearing a blue cloak with a pointy blue hat covered in stars and a wand in his hand.

Trying not to burst out laughing, I looked at Jace and said, "What's the Circle?"

"The Circle is basically the people who rebelled against the Clave. And the Clave is like... your government, you could say. They control the law and give out punishments to the ones who don't follow it," he said before I could ask the question. "Valentine was the one who created the Circle and he had big plans for everyone that joined in. You could say he was planning world domination. And by the look of it, he still is," Jace said, mumbling the last part to himself.

Even with all of this information that I had just been told, questions just kept popping into my head.

"Where exactly do you shadowhunters live? How come we never noticed you or the monsters before?" This seemed like a dream to me all of a sudden. As if my brother would come and wake me at any moment now and this, the shadowhunters and demons and my house burning down and my mom's frantic voice before she disappeared, all a dream.

"We live here on this planet, in Alicante. But we use something called glamour, its basically an illusion, and no one sees us on the map. Except for the people who can look past it of course, but no mundane can so we don't worry too much," he finished. A small smile appeared on his face as he looked down at the table.

"There's also another place, where I was born, where any shadowhunter would love to live there someday," he said, awe clear in his voice.

I don't think I've ever seen Jace in such a starstruck state before. In a way it made me happy to see that, even with all he must go through as a shadowhunter, there can still be moments of true happiness.

"What does it look like?" I asked, wanting to keep seeing that innocent smile of his.

"Green meadows everywhere, long and vast. The weather there is always perfect, not too warm and not too cold. In the morning you can hear the birds singing happily. And at night the stars would be as—"

"Bright as a burning flame," I finished for him.

He looked at me in surprise; he seemed just as astonished as I was at the moment. Where had I head of this before? A bell was ringing in my head but I just couldn't quite put my finger on it. Realization settled in and I stared at Jace with wide eyes.

"Idris, you're talking about Idris," I pointed out.

He slowly nodded but still didn't understand how I knew this. Little clips of my childhood were coming back to me. My father, Valentine, telling me and Sebastian about this wonderful magical place that one day he would bring us to. He described it the same way Jace did; it was so amazing that my brother and I continuously wanted to hear the story over and over again. Turns out that place wasn't merely a fairy tale, and now I'm starting to think that maybe Valentine wasn't lying when he said he'd bring us there.

"Clary, are you feeling alright? You look a little pale," Jace said worriedly, putting a gentle hand on top of mine on the table.

"Oh, yeah, sorry. I was just thinking about Valentine," I explained myself.

"What do you mean?" he asked.

I told him that when I was a child he would always speak of Idris. And now that I thought about it, I never heard my mom once even mention anything about fairy tales of any kind. She really didn't want to get us involved.

"So, Magnus wasn't kidding when he said that Valentine had other plans for you and Sebastian." Jace's eyes squinted in thought. "Is there anything else you remember Valentine saying?" he asked hopefully.

My head moved from side to side, "The only reason I remembered that is probably because you were reciting his exact words."

I saw his face drop as if disappointed. Seeing him like that made me feel guilty, but I knew that there wasn't really anything I could do about it. It wasn't my fault that I forgot my childhood up until my dad left. At that thought a little light started blinking inside of my head.

"Jace, what's your earliest memory? What age were you?" I asked skeptically, feeling that I was getting onto something.

"Um, maybe when I was four, why?" he asked, his eyes seeming to get their shine back.

"Exactly. My dad left when I was six or seven, yet I remember nothing of it. Only of what happened after he left. Although I remember the name of the person I had a crush on at school in kindergarten," I explained. "Isn't that weird?"

Jace stared at me in surprise, as if he hadn't expected to hear such a conclusion coming out of me.

"Now that you mention it, yes... Remembering the person you liked in kindergarten is pretty odd if you ask me. I mean I don't even remember myself," he said jokingly. I hit him in the arm and rolled my eyes at him.

"Of course, you were probably the one that the girls just looooved," I emphasized on the 'love' part.

He showed me a seductive smile, "Are you jealous?"

I approached my face to his with a menacing smile, "Not in a million years, pretty boy."

He shook his head and wagged his index from side to side, "We'll see about that, Clary."

"Yeah sure, so now back to the subject at hand," I said, trying the hide a smile after what he said last.

"Right, well the only source we could ask that would have a possible answer for us is your mom, but—" I cut him short by raising my hand.

"I know," I said a little too harshly, and quickly recomposed myself. There was no point in blaming the people around me. The only one in mind that I had to blame was my own father.

We sat there trying to think of another alternative until my phone began to ring. I looked at the caller ID and it read '_Demon'_; which is what I had put my brother as. That's when I realized that, after all this time, I had completely forgotten about him! He's probably flipping out right now!

I put my cell phone to my ear while saying as innocently as I could, "Hello?"

"Clary, anything you would like to tell me about?" he spat at me, clearly not amused.

"I'm guessing you found out then..." I said quietly, still not believing the fact that I _forgot _to tell Sebastian about it. No matter how much I might despise my brother, it sill wasn't an excuse to not let him know. It's probably not the best way to arrive home, either.

"Oh yeah, it's a great day when I invite a girl to my house so we can have a little bit more privacy, but only to find out that my house doesn't exist anymore!" he raised his voice. I sighed, knowing very well that he had every right to be mad at me.

"Didn't mom call you?" I asked. I wasn't sure if she had only called me and then... whatever happened to her happened before she could call Sebastian.

"Yes, five times, but my phone was on silent so I didn't hear it," he told me, though it didn't seem to help the situation very much. I heard a heavy sigh across the line. "Clary, where are you right now?" I just... I don't know what to do or where to go. Where _is _mom anyway?"

This was honestly the first time I heard my brother sounding so... helpless. I glanced at Jace who had been staring at me curiously the whole time.

"I'm at a coffee shop with someone and as for mom... I don't know. I haven't heard from her since her last call to me and I didn't get any news from the firemen yet, either," I said, hating how I couldn't provide any answers. There was a moment of silence on the other line.

"Okay, I'll come and get you and we'll try to figure things out. Which coffee shop are you at?" he said, sounding more depressing by the second.

"The one closest to Magnus' house, _First cup_," I said.

"'Kay, I'll be there in five."

After that he hung up and the line went dead. I put my phone back in my jacket and looked at Jace, who had never once looked away while I was talking with Sebastian.

"Is something wrong?" I asked uneasily, not sure what was going on in his mind right now.

"Is he coming to join us?" he asked, ignoring my question. A lot of people have been by passing my questions lately.

"No, he's coming to pick me up."

"And where are you guys going?"

"We didn't really clarify but probably to the police station or something, why?" I asked, wondering why he was asking all these questions and why did it seem to bother him.

He simply shrugged, "Just curious, is all."

_My butt you're just curious, _I thought but didn't say aloud. As I looked passed Jace outside I saw a silver car pull up the curb. And inside the car I saw the blonde, almost white, hair that belonged to Sebastian.

"He's here," I declared as I started to get up and gather my things. Jace walked me out and gave Sebastian a little wave to show him that we knew he was there.

"Anyways... thanks for the whole explanation," I said with a sheepish smile on my face.

"Do things make more sense to you now?" he asked with that coy smirk of his.

"Not at all, but I'll learn eventually," I said jokingly, receiving a chuckle from the man in front of me.

"Alright, well I'll see you later," he said and waved goodbye while walking away. When he turned the corner and was out of sight I joined Sebastian in the car.

"Where did you get a car?" I asked suspiciously.

He rolled his eyes, "Jessica let me borrow it. After I told her what happened and that I wanted to go and pick up my little sister but had not way to, she lent me her car," he said with a triumphant smirk.

"You're despicable," I said, not believing that at a time like this he was still hitting on all the girls. Although I should pretty much be used to it by now.

"Anyways, let's head down to the station," I suggested and put on the safety belt.

He put the car in gear, "Before going there can we stop somewhere?" he asked, putting the car in drive.

"Where?" There was no place that came to mind that would be necessary to stop at at this very moment.

"Luke."

And once again I was proven wrong because of my forgetfulness.

"Right, that would be a good idea," I stated. There was somewhat of an awkward silence between the two of us. Never have we been in a situation where both of us had to stick together and work together like this.

"So what did mom say when she called you?" he asked, breaking the silence. I explained to him step by step what happened.

"Oh, so you went to Magnus' house?" he asked once I was finished.

"Yeah, I didn't know where else to go. And sorry again for forgetting... I feel bad you had to find out the way you did," I apologized.

"Yeah, you better be," he muttered under his breath. I sighed internally having expected nothing more to come out of his mouth.

After a few more minutes we finally arrived at Luke's house, another close family friend. I wonder if he's heard the news yet. If we have to tell him, this might become a depressing visit. Not that it already wouldn't be. We got out of the car and Sebastian rang the doorbell.

"Come in," we heard the muffled voice of who I assumed to be Luke. We walked in and took off our shoes and made our way to the living room, where he usually was.

"Welcome home." We heard a voice say behind us. Though as I turned around I wasn't staring in the warm brown eyes that were Luke's. Instead I was looking at cold and pitch black eyes.

_Valentine..._

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**Woooo third chapter dooone~! Lemme know if you liked it, or hated it, either way!**

**I'm happy that I finally got around to this chapter and I promise that I will try my best to keep writing everyday instead of taking a break now and then so I can try to update once a week (that is my goal!). Anyway, hope you guys enjoyed and if there's any information that I had wrong in there, like about the shadowhunters/downworlders/and everything else I talked about, jut lemme know! I'm pretty sure I'm fine, but just to make sure!**

**Alright well see you all next chapter! Which will be, hopefully, soon!**


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